Missing
by Xbakiyalo
Summary: “The Dark Lord has gone missing,” announced Lucius Malfoy, on the dawn of November 1st 1981. There was a collective gasp from around the table... Oneshot, challenge piece.


**Summary:** "The Dark Lord has gone missing," announced Lucius Malfoy, on the dawn of November 1st 1981. There was a collective gasp from around the table... (Oneshot, challenge piece)

**Story Notes:** This was done as a challenge piece. It had to be centered around the theme, "missing". This is also a repost from a different account, but I'm accumulating all my stories together on one account now.

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"The Dark Lord has gone missing," announced Lucius Malfoy, on the dawn of November 1st. There was a collective gasp from around the table, the loudest of which came from Bellatrix Lestrange. Her strangled cry resounded above all others. Lucius turned his gaze to her, intending it to be full of cruel humour, but in the light of the situation he turned it to annoyance. He waited for silence to fall over the table, his eyes still on Bellatrix.

"Rookwood has gone to Godric's Hollow to find out what he can. He's already sent word back-" he nodded at Peter Pettigrew – "that Lily and James' bodies have been found, dead and unmarked. There's no sign of the baby, or the Dark Lord."

A collective murmuring buzzed around the table. Rodolphus Lestrange stood up with an air of defiance about him, and every eye in the room turned to him in sudden fear. You never stood without permission in this room. Never.

"You don't think… the Order of the Phoenix…?"

Lucius raised his eyebrows and left a large enough pause for it to be known that he thought the proposal was ridiculous. "We cannot rule it out, Rodolphus, but it seems unlikely. No one could have entered the Potters' house unless Peter told them where it was. And unless Peter told anyone…"

The gaze of the room transferred from Rodolphus to Peter, who had been leaning forwards on the table, resting his head on his hands in a pose that would have been almost casual if his fists hadn't been clenched together so tightly. At the mention of his name he emitted a small squeak and took his elbows off the table, wiping his palms on his shirt. Bellatrix gave an audible sniff as he spoke.

"Are… are you suggesting I'd betray you?" he said shrilly, making an effort to give a careless laugh, but it came out too high to sound convincing. He wiped his palms on his shirt again, glancing nervously around at the faces of the people surrounding him. "I swore my life to… to the Dark Lord. I wouldn't think of telling anyone else!"

Lucius turned back to Rodolphus. "I think we can assume that none of the Order were in Godric's Hollow yesterday evening."

Rodolphus looked skeptical. "Lucius, you know he was a childhood friend of the Potters. What proof do we have that he isn't still loyal to them? If he's telling us he betrayed them, how do we know he's not betraying us to them?" His voice steadily rose as he spoke.

Peter curled up on his chair in an effort to make himself look as small as possible. "I never… I wouldn't dare!"

"Fear!" roared Rodolphus. "He's only on our side because he's afraid! Now that the Dark Lord has gone, what's stopping him turning us all in?"

Peter gave a strangled squeak and slipped sideways off his chair, transforming into a rat as he did so. Severus Snape, in the seat next to his, lunged for the rat but it slipped through his fingers and landed hard on the floor. Nearly a dozen chairs scraped backwards as Wormtail scurried towards the door.

"_Stupefy!_" called Evan Rosier, his wand stretched in front of him and his face twisted in hatred. Wormtail dodged the streak of light and instead it hit a large marble statue, which shattered.

"_Avada Kedav-!_" Lucius Malfoy had run around the table, attempting to block Wormtail off before he got to the door, but the shattered statue made him slip and he crashed to the ground just as Wormtail slipped through the gap under the door. Lucius hurriedly got to his feet, breathing heavily.

"Traitor," he hissed. "If he ever shows his face here again…"

Rodolphus, who was still standing, started to look slightly smug. "I told you he'd go to the Order. They'll know where the Dark Lord is."

Rodolphus sat down sharply, but immediately started whispering something to Bellatrix and his brother, Rabastan. Barty Crouch, who was sitting just along from them, eyed the three with something close to curiosity. Lucius chose to ignore them all. He took a deep breath, returning to his place at the table.

"The point is, our leader has gone missing. We cannot proceed in any plans we may have until he has returned to us."

Anger mutterings met his words, and Barty Crouch pushed himself higher up on his elbows, not daring himself to stand even though the Dark Lord wasn't in the room to hand out a punishment.

"Lucius, we have no proof that he's dead. You above all people should know the measures he took to gain immortality. We cannot act as if he's gone forever! If he doesn't come back, then we must look for him. Interrogate everyone we can find. This sitting back and waiting is cowardice!"

He sat back in his seat again, satisfied with his short speech. Some people began to nod at him in agreement, while others shook their heads. Lucius took in the split in peoples' reactions.

"Well then Barty," he breathed. "It appears we are divided."

A sudden silence fell over the room as Lucius continued.

"I dare not act without my master's orders, and you dare not do nothing. We cannot do both."

Bellatrix stood up without a trace of fear, her back straight and her gaze piercing. "Lucius you know he will not want us to do nothing. Something about the Potters stopped him and I will not rest until I am back in the arms of my master."

Lucius surveyed her coldly. "Do what you will. I will wait for a sign of the Dark Lord's return. If you want to put yourself in Azkaban, be my guest!"

Rodolphus stood up quickly again, followed shortly by his brother Rabastan. His voice shook slightly in anger. "The Order knows what has happened, I'm sure of it. We'll have to find one and torture them to reveal information."

Lucius just stared passively at them, not saying anything. The atmosphere was tense.

"We're leaving, Lucius," announced Bellatrix, into the silence. "We're going to find the Dark Lord. He will reward us because we looked for him. Never forget that."

She stalked towards the door followed by her husband and his brother. To everyone's surprise, Barty Crouch also got up and followed them without a word. Lucius glared accusingly at the rest of the room.

"Anyone else going to betray us?" he demanded. The room remained silent.

"Good," he said, shortly. "I'm going back to my home to lie low and wait for any news on the Dark Lord. Consider this meeting closed."

Without another word, he turned and left the room. Slowly and quietly, the rest of the room followed suit. Last to leave the room was Severus Snape, who turned and surveyed the room with a suppressed loathing. The last place his eyes rested was on the seat of Peter Pettigrew, on its side on the floor.

The corner of his mouth twitched into a scowl before he swiftly turned and exited.

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I'm really proud of my first HP fic :) What did you think?

As always, please leave a review!

Xbakiyalo


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